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Cricket News: 5 players who unexpectedly underperformed in IPL 2021 | 5 underperformers from the recent IPL 2021 campaign

The 14th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) finally came to an end with the Chennai Super Kings crowned as the champions for the fourth time.

In this IPL, some players, such as Ruturaj Gaikwad, performed beyond our expectations whereas some couldn’t live up the promise. In this article, I am going to mention five such players who couldn’t perform up to the mark despite being hailed as giants in T20 cricket. Here we go.

Liam Livingstone (Rajasthan Royals)

Livingstone was a name whom everybody expected to come with all guns blazing in IPL 2021. He had a fantastic BBL followed by some outstanding performances to his name internationally for England and The Hundred.

In the absence of Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes, he was given a golden opportunity to prove his worth in the IPL. But his returns were as dismal as they could be. Livingstone was able to score just 42 runs in five innings at an extremely poor average of 8.40 and a sub-par strike rate of 102.44. The Englishman will surely up for grabs in the mega auction and it will be interesting to see whether he gets picked by any side or not.

Nicholas Pooran (Punjab Kings)

Nicholas Pooran is highly admired by the cricket fraternity as an extremely valuable asset in T20 cricket. But he was just a pale shadow of himself in IPL 2021. Pooran had his worst IPL this season as he scored mere 85 runs in 11 innings at a terrible average of 7.73. He looked horribly out of touch and is all set to be released by PBKS ahead of the mega auction. I hope he comes back stronger next season.

Trent Boult (Mumbai Indians)

Trent Boult, being a very experienced swing bowler, was expected to excel for Mumbai Indians with the new ball. But his performance was really disappointing as he picked just 13 wickets contrary to 25 wickets in IPL 2020. Although his economy improved by a bare margin, his average of 31.23 and strike rate of 23.69 with the ball were significantly higher than that he had in the last season. Thus, Trent Boult definitely let MI down to a certain extent and his dismal returns played a big role in MI’s failure to reach the playoffs in IPL 2021.   

Kagiso Rabada (Delhi Capitals)

In IPL 2019 and 2020, Rabada took 55 wickets in just 29 games at a superb average of 16.65 and a brilliant strike rate of 12.29. He even went on to win the Purple Cap in IPL 2020 and DC fans had expected him to replicate the same in this IPL as well.

But unfortunately, he couldn’t stand up to the high expectations and had a mediocre IPL. In IPL 2021, Rabada was able to pick just 15 wickets in 15 games at a considerably higher average of 30.40. This shows that he wasn’t anywhere near to his best this season and couldn’t support Avesh Khan and Anrich Nortje in the most desired manner. His ineffectiveness definitely costed DC some games, especially the vital encounter against CSK in the first qualifier.

Suryakumar Yadav (Mumbai Indians)

Suryakumar Yadav was the most valuable player for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2020 as he smashed 480 runs at an impressive average of 40 and a magnificent strike rate of 145.02. He was one of the keys in MI’s victorious campaign.

He got an average start in this IPL as well, but his performance in the second phase was horrible to say the least. Overall, he managed to score 317 runs at a very poor average of 22.64. He got out in single digit scores in four consecutive matches, which was one of the major reasons behind Mumbai missing the playoffs this time. 

Written by Debashish Sarangi. Follow Debashish on Twitter today